Clippers forward Sam Dekker headed to Cavaliers

Rick Noland | The Chronicle-Telegram

Published on
Aug. 6, 2018 | Updated 6:27 a. m.

Los Angeles Clippers forward Sam Dekker goes up for a reverse layup against Lakers forward Larry Nance Jr. on Dec. 29, 2017, in Los Angeles. Nance is now with the Cavaliers and Dekker will be joining him.

In the Dekker acquisition, the Cavs and Clippers exchanged the draft rights of European players in a deal that won’t be officially completed for a few days, cleveland.com reported.

The Cavs used $2.76 million of a $5.8 million trade exception they acquired in the Kyrie Irving trade with Boston last summer to acquire the 6-foot-8, 230-pound Dekker.

The 24-year-old Dekker, who will be a restricted free agent next summer, played in 73 games last season for the Clippers and averaged 4.2 points and 2.4 rebounds in 11.5 minutes. He shot .494 from the field and .661 at the line.

A long and fairly athletic player but not a great shooter, Dekker spent the first two years of his NBA career with Houston. He played in three games as a rookie in 2015-16, when he underwent back surgery, and 77 the following season. He owns a 5.3-point career scoring average and has shot .283 on 3-pointers (70-for-247).

Dekker went from the Rockets to the Clippers as part of the trade that brought Chris Paul to Houston. He was chosen by the Rockets with the No. 18 pick in the 2015 NBA Draft after his junior year at Wisconsin, where he helped the Badgers reach the NCAA championship game that season before losing to Duke.

The 6-8, 204-pound White signed with the Cavs in April after completing a 10-day contract in March. He did not appear in a regular-season game but played in all seven of Cleveland’s Summer League games in Las Vegas.

White’s $1.5 million contract would have become fully guaranteed had he not been waived by 5 p.m. Sunday. By releasing him, the Cavs saved paying him approximately half of that.